{"id":1699,"date":"2016-08-07T00:10:09","date_gmt":"2016-08-06T22:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2020-03-10T17:24:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T16:24:51","slug":"cost-benefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/cost-benefit\/","title":{"rendered":"The cost\/benefit of animal training"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/dressage-e1470520421180.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1709\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1709 alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/dressage-e1470520421180.jpg\" alt=\"dressage\" width=\"261\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/dressage-e1470520421180.jpg 858w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/dressage-e1470520421180-286x300.jpg 286w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/dressage-e1470520421180-768x806.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 261px) 100vw, 261px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When managing animal behaviour, such as training an animal to carry out a new response, there are two questions to ask before getting started.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What is the cost\/benefit of the behaviour?<\/li>\n<li>How should it be trained?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at the first of those two questions, as it will help decide whether a behaviour should be trained at all, and identify potential problems. I\u2019m saving the second question for <a href=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/7-ways-to-get-behaviour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">another blog post.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Training new behaviour could in some cases cause suffering to the animal.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Suffering, in this example, is one type of \u201ccost.\u201d There may be other costs too, but for now I\u2019ll settle for things like distress, discomfort or injury. So, for each prospective behaviour to be trained, one might assess whether there\u2019s potential suffering involved.<\/p>\n<p>Also, whether there\u2019s any benefit to training the behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>And so, we could imagine four potential outcomes of training a specific behaviour.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1700\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1700\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/cost-benefit-matrix.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1700\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1700 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/cost-benefit-matrix.png\" alt=\"cost-benefit matrix\" width=\"748\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/cost-benefit-matrix.png 748w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/cost-benefit-matrix-300x113.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1700\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trained behaviours and animal husbandry events may be useless, abusive, useful, or an ethical dilemma.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>If there are no benefits to training the behaviour, then there are no reasons to train it.<\/li>\n<li>If there are benefits to be gained from training the behaviour, there will be an ethical dilemma if the animal will suffer from learning or performing the behaviour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This blog post is not about how to resolve the ethical dilemmas of situations where there are both benefits and suffering. That type of situation could range from easy decisions such as whether to vaccinate, to difficult decisions such as whether to experiment on animals.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in those\u00a0ethical \/ philosophical\u00a0questions, and learn more about your own thoughts on the matter, check out the \u201canimal ethics dilemma\u201d test <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aedilemma.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m surprised by how often the cost\/benefit question seems to be overlooked. It\u2019s crucial in deciding whether to go ahead and train a behaviour or perform certain animal husbandry.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at a horse example.<\/p>\n<h5>The \u201ccost\u201d of hyperflexion<\/h5>\n<p>Apparently, there has been a trend in the last 20 or so years to ride dressage horses with heads bent increasingly beyond the vertical angle (Lashley et al., 2014).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1702\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1702\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/horse-side-view-1.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1702\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1702\" src=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/horse-side-view-1.png\" alt=\"horse side view\" width=\"580\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/horse-side-view-1.png 1263w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/horse-side-view-1-300x148.png 300w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/horse-side-view-1-768x378.png 768w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/horse-side-view-1-1024x504.png 1024w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/horse-side-view-1-1200x591.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1702\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cNormal\u201d, vertical, head position versus hyperflexed head position (beyond the vertical line).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In terms of costs, could hyperflexion cause distress, anxiety, or injury to the animal?<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll be frank.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not a horse person.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve never seen the extreme position (hyperflexion) being trained live.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know the names of the bits, reins and whatnots.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s been a lot of discussion about this in the media, so I spent some time on Google Scholar to educate myself about potential harmful effects of hyperflexion.<\/p>\n<p>What I found was disconcerting.<\/p>\n<p>Hyperflexion may involve an acute stress response as measured by an immediate increase in the stress hormone cortisol (Christensen et al., 2014).<\/p>\n<p>If trained coercively, hyperflexion is uncomfortable (as indicated by an increase in tail-swishing, head tosses and attempts at bucking). It also increases fearfulness, and the researchers warned that such horses could potentially be more dangerous to ride. In the same study, if given the choice, the horses preferred having their head in a regular position (with the nose line at or above the vertical) rather than in hyperflexion (von Borstel et al., 2009).<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most disturbingly, 80% of dressage and jump horses develop injuries in the neck, thought to be connected to the exaggerated hyperflexed postures (Weiler, 2006, 2007). However, it seems these findings have not been generally accepted by the international horse community, perhaps because Weiler\u2019s findings haven\u2019t been published in any peer reviewed journals (as far as I can tell). His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.de\/Insertionsdesmopathien-beim-Pferd-Gelenkkapselverankerungen-occipitalis\/dp\/3885423758\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thesis<\/a> is in German, and I can\u2019t find him referenced on Google Scholar.<\/p>\n<p>This is the problem with science. Unless a study is published in a peer reviewed paper, it\u2019s as if it doesn\u2019t exist. From what I can gather in the snippets of quotes I\u2019ve found, Weiler studied 1000 horses and found anomalies (inflammations and abnormal bone growth at the poll) amongst the majority of dressage and jump horses, but not in other types of horses. To me that would suggest that there is a correlation between riding style and injury, and inferring that one might cause the other isn\u2019t exactly a long shot.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1704\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1704\" style=\"width: 394px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/hyperflexion.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1704\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1704 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/hyperflexion.jpg\" alt=\"hyperflexion\" width=\"394\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/hyperflexion.jpg 394w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/08\/hyperflexion-282x300.jpg 282w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 394px) 100vw, 394px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1704\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hyperflexion (head bent beyond the vertical line) causes acute stress and possibly also long-term injuries. Image: Wikimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>OK, so there is a risk of suffering in horses when exposed to hyperflexion. Not all horses all the time, perhaps, but all these different lines of evidence indicate that it could <em>potentially<\/em> be a very serious problem. As discussed in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2016-05-10\/olympic-equestrian-equipment-causing-stress-in-horses-study\/7386074\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this blog post,<\/a> assessing discomfort and pain is difficult in dressage horses, since many wear nosebands and double bridles that close the mouth so that the telltale signs of discomfort (yawning, open mouths and thrashing tongue) disappear. With that standard equipment, the horse thus has fewer ways of communicating that he&#8217;s not at ease.<\/p>\n<p>So, in the matrix above, hyperflexion would rate either as abuse or as an ethical dilemma depending on whether there are any potential benefits associated with the technique.<\/p>\n<p>If hyperflexion is potentially bad for horses, why are they trained to perform like that?<\/p>\n<h5>The \u201cbenefits\u201d of hyperflexion.<\/h5>\n<p>Benefits explain why we do things. Benefits somehow makes life better for someone, people or animals.<\/p>\n<p>What are, supposedly, the benefits of hyperflexion? How does it make life better for people or animals?<\/p>\n<p>I find four lines of argument hypothetically in favor of hyperflexion \u2013 but I don\u2019t think they stand up very well to scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>Actually, they\u2019re potential costs.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do horses ridden in hyperflexion get <strong>better scores in dressage competitions<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Well, I find one study saying that they do, and another saying that hyperflexion was actually penalized with lower marks in the lower competition levels, and there was no difference in the higher competition levels.<\/p>\n<p>So it seems that whether hyperflexion is rewarded during competition depends on the individual judges \u2013 it may even be penalized. An unpredictable outcome \u2013 not a clear-cut benefit; sometimes even a cost.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do people think hyperflexion in horses <strong>looks nice<\/strong>? More attractive?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No. When asked to select a representation of their ideal horse, 93% of participants in one study chose images of horses with heads above the vertical line (Caspar et al., 2015) \u2013 that is, only 7% preferred the hyperflexed \u201clook\u201d. This is cost, not benefit.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do horses become suppler after stretching the neck \u2013 does hyperflexion <strong>improve posture and gait? <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Not according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.horsetalk.co.nz\/2013\/05\/06\/hyperflexion-neck-failure-olympic-dimension\/#axzz4GP2P8WUz\">this article<\/a> \u2013 hyperflexion puts an increased load on the forelegs, and the author Jean Luc Cornille calls it a <em>\u201cfailure of Olympic dimensions\u201d. <\/em>Scientists warn that there is risk of injury if the horse is ridden too long in hyperflexion (Rhodin et al., 2009). Again, cost, not benefit.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is hyperflexion a way to <strong>ensure a submissive horse<\/strong>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Apparently in some parts of the horse training community, &#8220;submission&#8221; more or less equals cooperation. A submissive horse is apparently one that is supple, relaxed and responsive, as far as I can tell.<\/p>\n<p><em>Not what I as an ethologist would call submission, but I won\u2019t argue this point here.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What I will point out is that there is a huge risk of learned helplessness during lengthy hyperflexion (Call et al., 1998) \u2013 that the horse has no control over unpleasant or harmful conditions, and that their actions are futile \u2013 they are helpless.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, learned helplessness can interfere with learning and performance.<\/p>\n<p>What does this mean? It means, that rather than performing better in dressage competition, <em>hyperflexion could have the opposite effect.<\/em>\u00a0Indeed, cooperation can be achieved through other means \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/dressagetoday.com\/article\/bitless-bridle-debate-28386\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">even with bitless bridles<\/a>, and this argument is, just as the others, cost and not benefit.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>So, hyperflexion is stressful and potentially damaging to horses, there is no clear competitive advantage to hyperflexion in dressage, the general public actually prefer seeing horses that are not hyperflexed, it\u2019s arguable whether posture and gait is improved, and it may cause learned helplessness which interferes with learning and performance\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Cost, cost, cost and cost. I don\u2019t find any benefits.<\/p>\n<p>So, I must conclude that hyperflexion in horses is generally abuse.<\/p>\n<p>I could be wrong, of course. Maybe some of the \u201cbenefits\u201d that I dismissed and reframed as costs actually has some value to them, at least for some horses sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>In such cases, hyperflexion would be an ethical dilemma rather than abuse.<\/p>\n<p>In such cases, one would have to weigh the costs and benefits of hyperflexion for that particular animal. Can costs be reduced? Benefits maximized? Is it worth the risks to the individual animal\u2019s health?<\/p>\n<p>That discussion is beyond the scope of this blog post. I\u2019m painting a broad picture here, not discussing details and exceptions.<\/p>\n<p>But I am curious.<\/p>\n<p>Why are people training their horses to hyperflexion in dressage competition?<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n<p>Hyperflexion is uncomfortable and stressful to the horse, and could cause long-term injury. Did I mention that their breathing is affected (Zebisch et al., 2014)?<\/p>\n<p>Judges are not automatically inclined to reward hyperflexion with better scores. Many of the so-called benefits are actually hidden costs.<\/p>\n<p>Then why?<\/p>\n<h5>Why do people train a behaviour that has no benefit and causes suffering?<\/h5>\n<p>Perhaps just because.<\/p>\n<p>Because someone else did it. Someone influential. Saying \u201cthis is what you should do\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Social conformity can make people do the inanest things, as shown in this video.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o8BkzvP19v4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So, we can see how the practice of hyperflexion can continue to propagate despite being not only useless but also detrimental to the horse \u2013 despite being abusive &#8211; simply due to this phenomenon of social conformity.<\/p>\n<p>I suppose snapping out of this type of situation isn\u2019t easy. I would expect practitioners of hyperflexion to get defensive when confronted with these findings.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps challenge my lack of understanding of horses, or the fact that I\u2019m referring to research that hasn\u2019t been published in peer-reviewed papers.<\/p>\n<p>Or perhaps arguing that the researchers didn\u2019t know the first thing about horses either.<\/p>\n<p>Or that there are benefits that I don\u2019t know about.<\/p>\n<p>The point I\u2019m trying to make here is: <em>should hyperflexion be trained at all?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Look at the cost\/benefit of your particular situation and ask: <em>is it worth it?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The cost\/benefit question is important, as it will help you decide whether to train a behaviour or carry out an animal husbandry intervention at all.<\/p>\n<p>That decision is also a moving target, so adjustment is needed as we learn more.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago there were hardly any data indicating that hyperflexion was particularly detrimental to horses \u2013 there were no known costs in terms of suffering. In fact, in an <a href=\"https:\/\/inside.fei.org\/system\/files\/Workshop_Report_Final_050306.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FEI expert meeting<\/a> in 2006 it was stated that: <em>\u201cin experienced hands there was no apparent abuse, improper welfare or clinical side effects associated from the use of hyperflexion\u201d.<\/em> Note that the papers I\u2019m citing in this blog post are all more recent and reach the opposite conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>Also, Rollkur (the coerced version of hyperflexion) has recently been <a href=\"http:\/\/newsofthehorse.com\/2016\/rollkur-banned-by-north-american-western-dressage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">banned<\/a> by the North American Western Dressage Organization, and all the bad press will probably influence the judges of dressage competitions, further reducing the potential benefits. I mentioned that two scientific papers disagreed on whether hyperflexion was penalized or beneficial in dressage competition: in data from 2008 it was beneficial (Lashley et al., 2014), in a 2014 paper it was penalized (Kienapfel et al., 2014). So what used to be a benefit is now a cost in terms of dressage points.<\/p>\n<p>So, <em>answers to the cost\/benefit question change over time<\/em>. In 2006, hyperflexion would not have been \u201cabuse\u201d but instead \u201cuseful\u201d based on the knowledge available at the time.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A sobering thought. What are we doing that is \u201cuseful\u201d today but will be \u201cabuse\u201d in ten years?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A paradigm shift is painful. I hope that practitioners of hyperflexion will take a few deep breaths and consider these rather recent findings when deciding how to go about training the next horse, or prepare for the next competition.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s never too late to change. That\u2019s how we grow \u2013 and the cost-benefit question will help us develop, question norms and find new solutions in animal training and husbandry.<\/p>\n<p>But &#8211; the cost\/benefit question was just the first of two important questions.<\/p>\n<p>The second one is: how should a behaviour be trained?<\/p>\n<p>This blog post grew so long that I decided that it will be the <a href=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/7-ways-to-get-behaviour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">topic of the next one!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>I teach about behaviour management in several online courses. Sounds interesting? Sign up to get notified whenever one of them opens for admission, and I&#8217;ll also keep you posted on free webinars and new blog posts!<\/p>\n<p><b>[embed_popupally_pro popup_id=&#8221;14&#8243;]<\/b><\/p>\n<p>References:<\/p>\n<p>Caspar et al. (2015). Human Preferences for Conformation Attributes and Head-And-Neck Positions in Horses.<\/p>\n<p>Christensen et al. (2014). Effects of hyperflexion on acute stress responses in ridden dressage horses.<\/p>\n<p>Hall et al. (2008). Is there evidence of learned helplessness in horses?<\/p>\n<p>Kienapfel et al. (2014). Prevalence of different head-neck positions in horses shown at dressage competitions and their relation to conflict behaviour and performance marks.<\/p>\n<p>Lashley et al. (2014). Comparison of the head and neck position of elite dressage horses during top-level competitions in 1992 versus 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Rhodin et al. (2009). The effect of different head and neck positions on the caudal back and hindlimb kinematics in the elite dressage horse at trot.<\/p>\n<p>Weiler (2006, 2007) \u2013 interviews in Horses for life Magazine.<\/p>\n<p>Von Borstel et al. (2009). Impact of riding in a coercively obtained Rollkur posture on welfare and fear of performance horses.<\/p>\n<p>Zebisch et al. (2014). Effects of different head\u2013neck positions on the larynges of ridden horses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hyperflexion in horse dressage \u2013 abuse or merely an ethical dilemma?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5771,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions\/5771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}